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Taking a slight step backward into history,
Better Than Ezra went back into their own Fudge Studios to record an
album of old and rare songs. Thus Artifakt was born between
labels. Opening with one of the best songs off their first demo,
Surprise, is Tremble. This version of the song is and
incredible step up. Its a great way to see just how far the band has come
in ten years.
Strange Funny Ways follows, and it is
quick to see that this album is going to be a return to the bands sound
around the Deluxe era. However, their musicianship makes for
a much better sounding record. The horns on Strange Funny Ways
shows that the band is just going to have fun on this album. Oh,
Corrina follows with the same feel as the last track, and Falling
Apart continues and begins to sound like everyone's first song they
wrote on guitar and loved. Five songs into Artifakt,
Wallflower begins to drag.
Thankfully, Better Than Ezra's
remake of the old Bill Wither's tune, Use Me, is absolutely
fantastic! Faithful to the original version, BTE rocks the house,
even managing to produce a better recording of the song than the original
artist. Present in the musical ensemble are rocking keyboards, Tom's funky
bass, other digital sound effects, a great horn section, and an awesome
guitar solo...gritty and raw. I love this song, but even more I love
BTE's arrangement.
After a short musical interlude, Rarely
Spoken continues in excellence. Classic BTE dynamics and
unpredictability typify this rock tune. Silly Fool is the second
best track on the record. Similar to songs off How Does Your Garden
Grow?, this song has more of an experimental feel too it right
from the synthesizer intro.
Wintercoats is the second re-recording
of a song off Surprise, and it combines acoustic feel of the
first half of the album with more current BTE style and
instrumentation. Mercy is another fantastic song off Artifakt
and ties for third with Rarely Spoken. Mercy is a song, I am
sure the band enjoyed recording and experimenting with because it shows
through the diverse sounds and effects on instruments.
One final "great" interlude and State
Street State of Mind winds down the record with the now familiar
acoustic feel of the album. However, two hidden songs pop out of nowhere
for a surprise ending. More partial than complete, they highlight the more
experimental side if Better Than Ezra.
Artifakt is quite an interesting
album and could easily be split into two separate musical works. One set
of songs are completely different from the remainder, making for an
interesting listen, yet it does not gel Artifakt as a
coherent album. It should be recognized that this album was made for the
fans, and remains solely available through the band's website or at live
concerts. Hopefully, we'll see more rarities off of a future
Artifakt II? Maybe...
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